A little confession about this entry: I recorded it early. Because by the time you're hearing it, our family will have just had the biggest day we've had in a long time. Yesterday, we will have moved Bella into college. And the same exact morning, my son will have started his senior year of high school. Both things. One day. Thank you, God, for that scheduling. So I'm telling you what I know Friday will look like, and whatever actually happens, I'll tell you next week. Deal? Deal.

In this entry:

• Recording from the before: what I already know about the biggest day

• Senior year photos in the front yard, next to a car packed with his sister's entire life

• Two kids, two milestones, one mom trying to be present for both (the honest version)

• This is why community: days too big to carry alone, and the people who hold you through them

• We build this thing for other people, and this week it's holding me. It works.

• No big assignment, just this: send the "thinking of you today" text

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, family milestones, why community matters, and the honest, in-between moments, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

You have a new host today. As you're listening to this, I am moving my eldest daughter into college, so before she left, Bella sat down at the microphone and recorded today's entry herself. She talks about her dream school, the mom who raised her solo and clapped first at everything, leaving behind two stinky boys (her words), and her four tips for every mom whose really cool daughter is heading to college. I'll be back tomorrow. Today belongs to her.

In this entry:

• A new host: Bella takes the mic on moving day

• Her dream school, journalism and political science, and maybe someday DC

• A tribute to the mom who's first to clap, first to cry, first to say "you did amazing"

• Bella's four tips for moms of college-bound daughters: the reels, the voice memos, the dog pictures, and the I-love-you texts

• "I will always be clapping you on, Mom"

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, the founder life behind the business, family, and the honest, in-between moments, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

Tomorrow, we drive Bella to college. So today, a story I don't tell very often: two college experiences, hers and mine. Mine had no dorm room, I couldn't afford to live on campus. No shopping trip with my mom for throw pillows and string lights. Full-time work alongside a full course load, and student loans that followed me for years. And somewhere along the way I made a quiet promise, the kind you make to a kid who doesn't exist yet: she will not do it this way.

In this entry:

• My college story: commuting, working full time, and the rites of passage that weren't part of it

• Said with love: a mother who did what she could, grandparents who did even more

• The quiet promise, and Bella's version: campus, no loans, no job, and the shopping trip we finally got to take

• Why I choke on "I'm so grateful," and what I'm practicing saying instead

• The words founders (especially mothers) need to say out loud: I built that

• Something to noodle on: what has your business made possible that you've never taken credit for?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, the founder life behind the business, what the work makes possible, and the honest, in-between moments, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

Yesterday I left work early. Laptop closed, out the door, gone, to get my nails done with my girl, two days before she leaves for college. And since I promised you a feelings week: I'm not sleeping great, the three a.m. wake-ups run the packing list and the memories at the same time, and the strange part is nothing is wrong. Everything is going right. She's ready. This is the plan working. And my body is still treating it like an emergency.

In this entry:

• Leaving early for the nail appointment nobody schedules for you

• The three a.m. brain: did we get the mattress topper, and also, wasn't she just five?

• Excitement and grief holding hands, both true all day long

• Mother, friend, founder: why sharp is not the assignment this week, present is

• Something to noodle on: what's your version of the nail appointment?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, founder life and family, big transitions, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

I'm being honest right out of the gate: I'm recording this with a brain that is completely full. There is so much going on in the business, and the organizing itself has become a job. So I've been building ways to leverage AI to carry some of it, meeting notes, a daily brief, little systems that take things off my brain. But the real reason I want it all off my plate? It's a big week at our house. Maybe the biggest in a long time. Bella, my eldest, leaves for college this Thursday.

In this entry:

• When there's so much good stuff happening that getting organized hurts your brain

• The AI systems I've been building to carry the busywork (meeting notes, daily briefs, more soon)

• The real motivation: being present for the last few days before a very big goodbye

• A heads up: the diary gets personal this week, we're doing feelings, y'all

• Something to noodle on: what could a system carry so you can be present for what only you can be present for?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, AI systems, founder life and family, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

This Friday was really special: I took the whole day out of the office to brainstorm with a colleague. Full whiteboard situation, markers out, total back-and-forth, and by the end we had planned all the way to the end of the year. And oh boy, did it give me the energy I needed after this week. So today is about whiteboard people, why different brains multiply each other, and the thing I most want to put out there: do not be an island.

In this entry:

• A full whiteboard day, and a plan mapped to the end of the year

• Why a day of thinking together gave back more energy than a day off

• How different working styles multiply: where I spiral, they push; where they'd settle, I poke

• The default trap of building alone (your own head has the same furniture every day)

• Something to noodle on: who's your whiteboard person, and when did you last get in a room with them?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, collaboration, planning, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

This little community of ours is growing, fresh faces everywhere, and it is so fun. But my biggest win this week is a Jason story. If you don't know Jason, he's our amazing community manager in the Society, and you should get to know him. The digest workflow I built freed up a lot of his time, and he took that time and created the most epic Friday wins post I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of Friday wins posts, friends. It's basically a genre.

In this entry:

• The Society is growing, and what fresh faces do to a room

• How the community digest workflow quietly handed Jason his hours back

• The most epic Friday wins post I've ever seen (and the engagement to match)

• The line I'll be repeating forever: the workflow didn't replace Jason, it funded him

• Automate around the humans, so the humans do what only humans do

• Something to noodle on: if a workflow gave you back three hours a week, what would you actually do with them?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, AI workflows, community managers, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

What a day. Wednesday was our first live session over in the Circle community, and it was unbelievably fun. I was incredibly nervous (the instant yes and the butterflies, you know how I'm built), and it all worked out, and it was fantastic. Minds were blown when I showed the community digest setup. And the other big news: all my Claude + MCP projects, converted into Circle AI projects, launch today. As you're listening, they're going live. They're like your little teammates, each one helping you get a specific thing done quicker.

In this entry:

• The first live Circle session: nerves, nerdy joy, and a chat that lit up

• The community digest moment that blew people's minds

• The launch: my projects, converted to Circle AI projects, live the day this drops

• Little teammates: what they are and what they help you do

• Double the RSVPs already in for next week's session (what is my life)

• Something to noodle on: if you had one little teammate for one job, what would you hand them first?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, Circle AI projects, live sessions, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

I spent Tuesday doing something I make everybody else do and almost never do for myself: I built out my own blueprint. My community has pivoted, we've added things, we've leaned heavily into AI, and my documented version was describing a community from a whole chapter ago. So I sat down, ran my own process, attached it to the Circle MCP, and friends, it was remarkable how much quicker it went. Also: the fill-in-the-blanks. Thank you, Molli. Could you have made it any more seamless?

In this entry:

• Finally doing my own Community AI Blueprint (a to-do list loop, officially closed)

• Running the process with the Circle MCP: refining instead of excavating

• Why this jumped the queue: new Circle AI projects, a.k.a. mini agents, coming tomorrow

• AI is only as good as the context you give it, so the context has to be current

• Something to noodle on: what process do you run everyone else through that hasn't been pointed at you lately?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, Circle AI and MCP workflows, taking your own medicine, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.

It's happening. This week is my first live session inside the Circle community, the partnership I cried at my desk about and finally announced. We've been prepping like crazy, running prompts, nerding out, playing with my favorite toys and calling it my job. And also: Monday turned into a sixteen hour day, and boy, did I feel it. Both things are true, and I'm sitting with what that means.

In this entry:

• Prep week for my first live Circle session: prompts, testing, full unapologetic nerding out

• The sixteen hour Monday, and why excitement is sneaky fuel

• The part nobody puts on the vision board: the dream came true, and the dream is expensive

• An honest word on the health journey during a big season (the messy middle, no pretending)

• Something to noodle on: what's your tell that you've blown past your limit?

The Diary of a Community Builder is a daily, behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build and run a membership community and a community-led business. Real entries about community building on Circle, Circle AI, big seasons and their costs, and the honest, in-between moments of growing an online business, without the highlight reel.

Want to take it one step further? The Diary lives inside coCreator Society too. Each day's question drops in the community, you leave your own entries, and we support one another while we build our community-based businesses, together, out loud.

Come join us 💛 https://cocreatorsociety.com/

ABOUT THE DIARY OF A COMMUNITY BUILDER

The Diary of a Community Builder is a free daily podcast from Rachel, a Circle Expert and founder of coCreator Society. Every weekday at 6am Eastern, a new entry drops: musings, behind-the-scenes moments, and lessons from inside real membership communities and community-led businesses, plus one question to noodle on in your own day of building. It's the messy, honest, in-between of building something that lasts. For full-length strategy episodes, listen to the Community at Heart podcast wherever you get your shows.